Gaines Group Blog

Harmony Square Dairy Queen – possibly the greenest DQ in the country

A fast food restaurant is not often thought of as a “green” building. However, when Jane and Michael Blackburn approached their future Harmony Square Dairy Queen that is exactly what they asked for from us. Mike said “this is a locally owned business, we care about our community, and we want to impact the community and the environment in a positive way.” This Harmony Square Dairy Queen, is in its second generation of ownership. The store is run by Jane Blackburn who grew up in the business with her late mother Josephine Musser. Jane’s goals were simple, “make a store that will be energy-efficient and durable – we have lots of loyal clients and we want them to love this new store and for them to know that we love them.” Working with a standard Core 72 Dairy Queen design we had to convert the design package to reflect local code and also boost the efficiency. This is a delicate balance that would have to meet local standards and also be approved at the state and national corporate levels of the chain.

Harmony Square Dairy Queen – Jane and Mike have now created a Dairy Queen that is very energy-efficient.

After only one month of data, opening in early January 2016 the loyal customers have shown their appreciation for the efforts. With a 46% increase in business over the same month last year, a larger store footprint, two additional cake freezers, three additional reach in freezers, a chain broiler, site lighting, and additional exterior signage, in other words a lot more energy demand, the store is trending at 50% of the national average for energy usage per square foot for a fast food chain store. The energy-efficient features used at the store are: